The Golden Chariot

December 21, 2006 by admin.

Ramblers R Us

At one point in my father’s car buying career, he purchased a wonderful little golden tank called the American Motors Rambler station wagon. The back part of the station wagon was my brother Mark and I, and when we traveled, the occasional 20 suitcases. I believe it was a 1966 gold-colored Rambler, with a luggage rack on top. When the family moved overseas or back to the States, the old Rambler was shipped to us by boat. That old car made it to three continents and ran like a top, wacky sometimes, but a great car. When we took our vacation to Barcelona Spain, we drove through southern France, with a roof full of luggage; two kids hanging out the back, and my poor father swearing his brains out at the lousy drivers. I am sure that James Bond never imagined cruising the French Riviera in a Rambler, with a wife and two kids. The food was either so expensive or so un-American that we ate French bread with peanut butter and jelly every day during that vacation. When we traveled in the mountains of Italy on another vacation, we had this huge steamer trunk strapped to the roof. We brought everything but the kitchen sink. So here we are flying down a highway in Italy, trying to keep up with the flow of traffic, and suddenly a terrifying sound hit our ears. The scrapping of metal on the roof was horrifying. I glanced out the back window of the station wagon just in time to see the steamer trunk hydroplaning down the highway. With an air cushion underneath it, the trunk bounced just off the surface of the road. It did not hit any other cars and finally it lost momentum and skidded off the road. We made a mad U turn and went back to check on the trunk, knowing that it was destroyed on impact. We had visions of our underwear scattered all over the Italian landscape. But miracles of miracles, the trunk was still in one piece, minus a few dents. That steamer trunk probably weighted at least 125 pounds, and was one lethal flying object that day. Thank goodness it did not hit anyone.

On another trip in the old Rambler in Italy, my brother and father were in a bad accident. A crazy Italian broadsided the Rambler because he did not feel like steering around the Rambler. My dad was taking a left when this Kamikaze came flying out of nowhere and crashed into the side of the station wagon. My brother got a lot of glass shards thrown into his back and it was very painful. When this Italian showed up in traffic court to explain the accident, his defense was that our Rambler was too long and he was not used to long cars like that so he miss timed his point of contact. The nerve of the idiot, I am surprised that my Dad did not take the guy for a long ride off a short pier.

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Office Visit

December 21, 2006 by admin.

Mom, Dad, I hate shots

When the Agency prepared an agent and his family to move to a “hostile” land, one of the first things to happen is a series of inoculations a.k.a. shots. As I recall, these shots were so toxic that a person could not handle all of them at once. The shots actually infected us with a little bit of the disease that we were trying not to get. This way our bodies built up immunities in case we came in contact with a full fledged case of the running crud, or whatever the shots were for.

So a few months before our first trip overseas, we loaded up the Rambler station wagon and drove to Langley Virginia from Fairfax Virginia. We check in with the guards at the gate, and then parked. As a family we walk into this great big lobby, with white pillars and a marble looking floor with some very impressive symbols on it. The giant eagle in the middle of this seal just fascinates me, and I stopped my Dad, and said, “What is that on the floor?” He did not answer and hustles the family down a corridor, to the section where the nurses are giving shots. We get our shots and we exited the building with no explanation. My curiosity was killing me, but the answers never came. One day when I was home from college, my mother happen to mention that it was funny how I was giving Dad fits over the seal in the floor of the lobby of CIA headquarters. Well I almost dropped my teeth. After all those years, my mother accidentally solved a mystery that plagued me for years but then forgotten. Sometime after we visited the CIA headquarters a few times for shots, the Agency got wise and starting having dependants (spouses and children) go to the State Department buildings for shots. It seems like they were blowing their own cover with dependants that did not need to know, like me! My poor Dad always had to fend off my barrage of questions. I was a pest, because I knew something was up and could not figure it out.

In case you were wondering, when we went to Laos, we had the full compliment of shots. I believe every shot known to man. Here is the partial list as I remember it: Diphtheria, Typhoid, Typhus, Cholera, Plague I and II, and several others for good measure. I recall the worst one being the Gamma Globulin shot. The nurse would have me stand at the edge of the examination table and hold on. She would then ask me to lower my pants as to expose one hip. The shot was kept in a refrigerator until the last moment and then a horse size needle was attached and then jammed into the hip. The nurses were all military nurses, so their tender loving care was all gone by that time in their career. They were use to giving shots in a great big assembly line. Slam, bang, thank you Mama. For about a week or so after the shot, I would have this great big ugly knot and bruise on my hip. We had to have to two Gamma Globulins before going to Laos. I still have nightmares about that needle. We also took Malaria pills every week in Laos, or at least we were supposed to, but that is another story.

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High Noon

December 21, 2006 by admin.

The Human Lawnmower

At our second house in Laos, we had a tiny patch of real grass that needed to be trimmed from time to time. There were no lawnmowers in the country, since no one had a “real lawn”. The patch was about 12 foot by 12 foot and was situated in the middle of the front yard. As was customary in the Kingdom, we hired several servants to assist my mother in housework, kitchen work, laundry, shopping in the Morning Market, boiling water, and yard work. The gardener that we hired wore only white clothes and a little white hat. I did not see him much, because he slept all the day, after partying every night. Since opium was cheap and very available, he smoked it to excess. The side effect was that he had no inclination to do any yard work. At one point during the hot season, the tiny patch of grass started to really grow. So my mother asked the gardener to cut the grass. The next day at noontime I looked out the window and saw a white object on the grass. I looked closer and it was the gardener lying on the grass, holding a pair of hand clippers. About every 30 seconds he would squeeze the handle of the clippers and the distinct sound of the blades coming together could be heard. I stared at him in amazement. He was higher than a woodpecker’s hole, lying on the grass, casually hand clipping the grass. It was about 120 degrees in the sun, 100% humidity, and he must have been baking like a potato. But since he was already baked, in the mind that is, he really did not care in the least about the sun. At the rate he was clipping, it would take him about four or five solid days of “work” to cut that grass. Life in Laos moved at a different pace and the Laotians to a different drummer.

 

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My Parents Were CIA Agents

July 31, 2006 by admin.

My Mother and Father worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Our journey as a family into the world of espionage is an intense, dangerous, and demanding story. I will share my unique observations as seen through the eyes of a young man traveling the world, experiencing life with my family.

This book is a tribute to my Father and Mother’s dedication to preserving our way of life through their service in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). As it turns out, my mother also worked for the CIA for a short time, as a secretary and cable writer (early type of email) in Vientiane Laos.

My father joined the Marines, graduated from law school, served with the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) United States Treasury Federal Agent chasing bootleggers and mobsters. Then he joined the CIA during a very turbulent time of our history when Soviet and Chinese threats were all about. Because of his previous training and interest in electronics, he was assigned to CIA/TSD, or Technical Services Division, which did most of the stuff like “Q” did in the James Bond movies. This included providing tradecraft equipment and services that were required from CIA Stations all over the world. We lived in Fairfax Virginia, Frankfurt Germany, Vientiane Laos, and Rome Italy during his CIA career. My father traveled to many continents and when he retired wrote a fictional book about two CIA agents.

 

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Risk Only One

July 31, 2006 by admin.

NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol was injured in a plane crash in Colorado along with two others. His son and the pilot passed away and my prayers are with all the families. Ebersol’s wife is actress Susan Saint James and she was not onboard the plane.

Even if the Ebersol and wife traveled separately by accident, they reminded me about my parents pledge.

We lived in Vientiane Laos from 1968 to 1969 during the Vietnam War. We flew on Air America (AA) all over Laos and Thailand. Several times my parents traveled together and left me and my brother at home with a babysitter. Since flying slow and low over enemy territory is very hazardous, they suddenly came to a decision. That my parents would never travel together in the war zones, so that if they were shot down and killed, at least my brother and I would have one parent.

A very sensible pledge in the mad world of Laos.

I had a school friend in Laos lose his Dad and I still remember the feeling that I had for my friend to this day. The “Secret War” in Laos was crazy enough without having to worry about one of my parents getting killed or captured by the Pathet Lao (PL). The PL were not very nice to Americans that they captured and had a tendency to cut off ears of their prisoners. Making a statement, don’t you see. Article

The PL were the Viet Cong of Laos, a puppet for the Communist governments of Russia and China. The CIA mission in Laos was to harass the PL, be forward observers (FO) for bombing missions of the Ho Chi Minh Trail (HCMT), and assist the war effort any way they could. That included feeding the local tribes, arming them, training them, providing medicine and doctors.

Speaking of doctors, a good friend of mine’s father from Laos was a famous doctor there. His name was Dr. Charles Weldon, and he did God’s work over in that nasty place. Here is a link to his autobiography.

The main hill tribe in Laos was the Hmong. A fierce and loyal group of tribes that lived in the mountains, using stone age technologies to survive. Many western people called them “Meo” but that turned out to be an ethnic slur that the lowlands Lao came up with to insult the mountain people. Despite the Hmong being “backwards” they bonded with the CIA CAS (Covert Action Staff) officers and mercenary trainers. The Hmong became more reliable than the conventional army that we trained in the lowlands. The Hmong were also awesome warriors and they seemed to have no fear in battle. They traditionally used cross bows and knives as weapons. We gave them light rifles like the M-1 carbine and they became even more deadly.

Up until 1975, the Hmong kept the PL at bay and won many of the engagements that they conducted. But the White House (WH) and CIA in 1975 betrayed that trust and left them for the wolves. We withdrew our troops, CIA agents, mercenaries, and equipment. The poor Hmong were then subjected to death, long prison terms, and “re-education camps”. More than half of their population was destroyed. Some made it to Thailand but then got stuck in interment camps. Those camps make it on TV once in a while and they are slums, to put it nicely.

Other Hmong tried to escape by sea and they were raped, robbed, and killed by sea pirates near the Gulf of Siam.

It is a disgrace that a great ally like the Hmong were basically given the death sentence. And many Vietnamese that were friendly to us suffered the same fate.

You can read a great book on the subject, “Decent Interval” by Frank Snepp.

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About Me

December 27, 2005 by admin.

About Me and My Background

I have continued to travel around the world as an adult, working in strange countries and foreign lands.

I enjoy writing, cryptography, and the outdoors. I have been in Law Enforcement, as a patrol officer and as a developer of computer software for various County, State, and Federal agencies. I also have written many computer software applications for Fortune 500 companies including a few multi-national ones.

I like researching on the Internet, to learn more about espionage and Intelligence work. I have a collection of books on espionage and enjoy reading them. I love learning the tradecraft of some of the best agents in the world.

Lately I have been writing computer programs that relate to computer security and web site security. I also have been writing spider programs that collect and analyze information from various web sites.

My pen name is BLAIR, Eric. It is the real name of my favorite author.

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FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

December 27, 2005 by admin.

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

This is where I tried to answer the most frequently asked questions about the book, the web site, and my family.

Q: Why did you write this book?

A: Because I felt that most espionage books concentrated on the primary agent and never dealt with the family of the agent, the interaction of the family, and the effects that the work had on all of them.

Q: Did you ever work for any Intelligence agency?

A: No, I based my book on my own observations. I never used any classified documents to create my working draft. If I wrote about a sensitive subject, I edited out anything that could be considered not for public dissemination or was not already known in the public domain.

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Background on Father

December 27, 2005 by admin.

Background Information on my CIA Father

This book is a tribute to my Father and Mother’s dedication to preserving our way of life through their service in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

As it turns out, my Mother also worked for the CIA, as a secretary and cable writer (early type of email) in Vientiane Laos.

My Father joined the Marines, graduated from law school, and then served with the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) as a United States Treasury Federal Agent chasing bootleggers and conducting surveillance of mobsters. Then he joined the CIA during a very turbulent time of our history when Soviet and Chinese threats were all about. Because of his previous training and interest in electronics and lock picking, he was assigned to CIA/TSD, or Technical Services Division, which did most of the stuff like “Q” did in the James Bond™ movies. This included providing espionage equipment and tradecraft services that were required from CIA Stations all over the world. We lived in Fairfax Virginia, Frankfurt Germany, Vientiane Laos, and Rome Italy during his CIA career. My father traveled to all five continents, applying his expertise, and when he retired he wrote a fictional book about two CIA agents.

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Glossary

December 27, 2005 by admin.

Glossary

This is where I attempt to define much of the slang and abbreviations that I use in the book. Most of the slang is commonly used in the Intelligence field.

Air America (AA) - An airline front company for the CIA.

AA took over the task from CAT of supplying materials and transporting “special” passengers in Laos during the Secret War.

Air America Homepage

Agency, The - Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

A common slang word used when talking with other Intelligence agents.

Back Stop - A very plausible job, telephone number, or address.

When a pseudonym for an agent is created, sometimes a back stopped identity has to be created. If an enemy agent suspects the agent’s background and he checks on where he works, the back stop will be good enough to fool him into thinking that his suspicions were false.

Cable from Station in Laos

Cable - A secure message.

Before there was email, the CIA used cables to communicate between Stations and HQ. Cables were condensed and concise messages, sort of like telegrams, where you are concerned about using too many words.

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) - The government agency responsible for overseas Intelligence gathering using Human Intelligence (HUMINT) and sometimes Electronic Intelligence (ELINT).

Central Intelligence Agency

Civil Air Transport (CAT) - An airline front company for the CIA.

The predecessor to Air America (AA) in Laos.

Code Name - Alias for an agent

Similar to an pseudonym, a code name is an alias for an agent. Code names were used when the pseudonym is not to be revealed. The double agent FBI man Robert Hanssen’s code name was “Ramon”. When he communicated with his KGB handlers, “Ramon” was what he was known as. Also known as Cover Name.

Company, The - Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

A common slang word used when talking around non Intelligence agents.

Cover Story - A semi plausible story to protect the true identify of the agent.

A typical cover story for an agent traveling overseas is that he is working for a company that sells electronic parts.

Forward Air Controller (FAC) - A spotter in a forward area.

They loitered in the area of the enemy, sometimes marking it with flare rockets if the FAC is airborne, so that fighters and bombers could hit their targets accurately. A highly dangerous job, especially considering that the Ravens used low and slow propeller driven aircraft.

Front Company - A legitimate company to conceal Intelligence activities.

One of the more famous front companies was Air America (AA), which at its height in Laos was the largest private airline in the world. Intelligence agencies use front companies to help provide personnel and material support to a secret operation without drawing attention to itself.

Ho Chi Minh Trail (HCMT) - A large number of trails and roads that the Communists used to supply their war effort and infiltrate.

The word trail is actually a misnomer, since the HCMT was a large network of paths, roads, and trails. The HCMT started in North Vietnam (NVN) and winded through Laos and Cambodia and into South Vietnam (SVN).

Laos - A country in Southeast Asia (SEA)

Laos is a land locked, poor country that was a springboard for CIA operations during the Vietnam War.

Map of Laos pre 1974

Merc - Short for Mercenary

A non-military person that is for hire, and that specializes in hazardous assignments. Also known as a Contractor. Usually has a military background, especially with some type of Special Forces, like Army Rangers, Green Berets, Airborne, Air Commandos, Navy SEALS, or Marine RECON. Mercenaries that were used in Laos came from a wide range of countries in SEA.

Microdot - A miniature picture the size of the head of a pin.

Microdots are shrunken pictures that can be transported underneath a postage stamp on a letter. The agent receiving the microdots has a microdot viewer that enlarges the picture so that it is readable. Microdots can also be hidden in-between the layers of a book binding and any where else that one can imagine.

Microdot Viewer

Microfilm - Very small picture film.

Microfilm can be used in miniature cameras and easily transported or concealed. A Minox is a type of microfilm camera.

Minox Camera

National Security Agency (NSA) - The government agency tasked with making codes, breaking foreign government codes, and intercepting Electronic Intelligence (ELINT), Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), Photographic Intelligence (PHOTINT), and Communications Intelligence (COMINT) overseas. The technical term for codes is cryptography. They are also involved in Information Systems Security (INFOSEC), to help protect U.S. government computer systems from foreign governments.

National Security Agency

NVA - North Vietnamese Army

The formal Communist forces of North Vietnam. They had actual uniforms and had formal military formations and training. This is in contrast to the VC which did not have official uniforms and formations.

NVN - North Vietnam

PL - Pathet Lao

The Communist Laotians who fought against the CIA and American friendly forces. Contrary to what you read on the Internet, The PL did not win the war in Laos, they took over by default after we withdrew at the end of the Vietnam war.

Pseudonym - A fake name and identity

When an agent is in the field, many times he has one or more pseudonyms that he uses. A pseudonym within the Intelligence world is written LAST NAME, first name, with the last name in all caps. The reason for this is that when you are reading a document that has names in it, you know if it is a true name or a pseudonym.

Ravens, The - An unofficial group of pilots that served in Laos

They flew high risk missions in Laos to rescue downed pilots of AA and CAT, do surveillance of the HCMT, and acted as Forward Air Controllers (FAC) so that fighters and bombers could hit their targets accurately. All the members of the Ravens were sheep dipped, for plausible deniability.

Raven FAC Homepage

SEA - Southeast Asia

Includes Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia.

Secret War - The undeclared war in Laos

The so called “Secret War” in Laos was the CIA’s attempt to disrupt and harass the PL, NVA, and VC.

Secret War in Laos

Secret Writing - Methods of concealing messages in plain sight

Agents in the field use secret writing to communicate with other agents. Typically secret writing uses some sort of gimmick to conceal the message, like an invisible ink. The hidden message is written in the margins of an ordinary letter and then sent to the agent of choice. The receiving agent has a chemical that he wipes on the letter to reveal the secret message.

Sheep Dipped - Change of job or duties

Sometimes agents change jobs to other non-intelligence agencies or military assignments so that they cannot be traced back to their source agency.

Spook - Intelligence agent.

Any intelligence agent like a CIA agent.

Sterilized - Non traceable back to the source agency.

Many times weapons and airplanes have their serial numbers removed or paperwork “lost” so that they are not traceable back to the source agency. The CIA also purchased material from the open market using front companies so that it could not be traced back.

SVN - South Vietnam

Tradecraft - The methods and techniques of Intelligence agents.

For example, surveillance of an enemy agent is a tradecraft.

True Name - The actual real name of the agent

True names are a closely guarded secret and therefore pseudonyms and code names are used extensively to protect it. It is standard procedure to never write the true name and the pseudonym or and code name in the same message or memo. This is done in case an enemy agency intercepts and decodes the message, they will not be able to connect the dots unless they have both messages.

TSD - Technical Services Division of the CIA

The division of the CIA that created many of the gadgets for field agents.

VC - Viet Cong

The irregular Communist forces in and around Vietnam. Many wore black pajamas and operated only at night. This contrasts with the NVA which had uniforms and operated like a formal army. Many of the VC were farmers during the day, and then conducted military raids during the night. The movies blur the line between VC and NVA, but they were very different in how they operated but with the same objective.

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Resistors

December 27, 2005 by admin.

Resistors

Resistors anyone?

One day in Texas I was working on a computer project for a customer. They wanted me to get their accounting software to run on two different Apple II computers at the same time. The only snafu was that the software had a hardware chip that had to be plugged into the game port of the Apple II in order to activate the software. And the customer only had one hardware chip from the software vendor.

So the customer asked me to investigate how to “clone” or copy this chip for them. I did some research and found out that the hardware chip was very simple. It was merely a plastic socket with two resistors soldered onto specific pins in the socket. If I could find another socket and the two resistors, and then solder them in the right place, I could duplicate the hardware chip.

I went to Radio Shack with my short shopping list in hand. They had all the parts, but it took awhile for the salesman and me to find the right resistors. If you know nothing about resistors, they are little tiny plastic looking devices with wires coming out both ends, looking like a brown piece of rice. They have colored stripes on them; each combination of stripes means different things. Since the permutations of possible color code combinations are more than most people can memorize, ordinary people use an electronics book look up table to figure it out or some Internet Web sites have resistor calculation programs.

For example, Black, Brown, Brown, Silver is 10 ohms, +/-10%. There are ten colors, with the first three positions being any of the ten color combinations, and the last position is either silver or gold. Needless to say, the Radio Shack salesman used the electronics book to look up the color codes, verifying that I was purchasing the correct resistors.

I went to my Dad’s apartment with parts in hand. I had watched him for hours in the garage, soldering things. I remember the distinct pungent odor of melting solder, and his skillful hands making short work of an electronics project. Since I did not own a soldering gun, I knew that he would have several. When I arrived and showed him what I wanted to do, he got that gleam in his eye once again. He jumped right into helping me, without a complaint. He setup a work area with an old towel on his kitchen table, soldering gun warming up, and other tools on standby. He took one glance at my two resistors and said what ohms and +/- they were.

I was dumbfounded. I asked if he saw the receipt and read what they were from there. He said no, that he had learned how to read the color codes. I just sat there, marveling at this unseen talent that my Father possessed. I know that other electronic whizzes can do the same, but heck, this was my Dad, and the Agency trained him well.

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